At this time of year, I’ve a bit more time on my hands to do some hillwalking, so on Friday, I travelled up north to Glenelg to do three days of winter hillwalking in Kintail. Packed with munros and corbetts, Kintail is a fantastic area for hillwalking. In the days running up to our trip, there had been a good fall of snow, Scotland’s first significant spell of winter weather this autumn, with some schools closed in Aberdeenshire, the Corgarf to Tomintoul road closed due to snow, and, surprisingly, Cairngorm Mountain resort open up for skiing.
Our first day on the hill was Beinn Sgritheall. On a fine August day thirteen years ago, Beinn Sgritheall was my last Munro. Family and friends joined me for my last hill. This November, however, was a different story. It was wet and on the summit, windy with sleet – altogether very uncomfortable conditions. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the hill; there’s a strange satisfaction in being able to function and move well when the conditions are unpleasant.
On the second day, we opted for a smaller hill, a Corbett called Sgurr an Airgid accessed from Morvich. The hill has an excellent stalker’s path, and the ascent was straightforward. We had nicer conditions, a bit colder, no precipitation and some fine views.
On day three, our plan was an ascent of Beinn Fhada, 1032m (meaning long mountain). The weather was forecast to be dry and sunny at times. The day began with a pleasant two-hour walk into a beautiful corrie, with big cliffs and buttresses. The next step was an ascent, up another good stalker’s path, to a plateau and the snowline. The views on the plateau were fantastic. The snow line was at about 800m. To the southeast lay the Five Sisters of Kintail, and to the northeast the mighty Affric hills. What a tremendous hill. We lingered on the summit for a while, then began our three-hour walk back to the start. Altogether, the hill took us seven and a half hours.
If you’d like a guide to access this area, please get in touch, or check out our open mountain events.
